Democracy = Criminality?

The Washington Post headline was straight out of The Onion: "Iran-Contra Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad." They were writing about Elliott Abrams. With a straight face. Further proof that under the Bush Administration truth is stranger than fiction.

Abrams was convicted in 1991 for lying to Congress about his role in trading profits from illegal arm sales to Iran for aid the Contras, who were trying to topple the Sandanista government in Nicaragua. As Ronald Reagan's Latin America hand, Abrams flew to London under the pseudonym "Mr. Kenilworth" to extract $10 million for the Contras from the Sultan of Brunei.

A pardon by Bush 41 saved Abrams from prison time, and a job as the National Security Council's director for Near East and North African affairs resurrected his career. The NSC post conveniently did not require Congressional approval, as late Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory explained in 2001: "Members of Congress remember Abrams's snarling at committee hearings, defending death squads and dictators, denying massacres, lying about illegal US activities in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Abrams sneered at his critics for their blindness and naivete, or called them 'vipers.'"

Abrams only qualifications for the new gig were his opposition to the Madrid and Oslo peace processes and long-standing faith in Ariel Sharon. In Bush's first term, Abrams quietly pushed policy as Condi Rice's Middle East point man. Now, with two directorates under his control, Abrams will assume a larger role, as Bush mandates democracy abroad and re-engages in the Middle East peace process.

On both counts, the presence of Abrams is not encouraging. "Our military strength and willingness to use it will remain a key factor in our ability to promote peace," Abrams wrote in a book for the Project for the New American Century. "Strengthening Israel, our major ally in the region, should be a central core of US Middle East Policy." Such obvious favoritism prompted the Palestinians to request anyone other than Abrams in diplomatic meetings. With Abbas and Sharon finally meeting face-to-face, Abrams's opposition to "land-for-peace" could sidetrack an otherwise promising moment for peace talks. Bush clearly trusts Abrams's ideology and shares his democracy-at-gunpoint philosophy.

During Bush's first term, at least Abrams's activities were largely limited to Israel-Palestine. Now, as democracy's global ambassador, the "Neocon's Neocon" has the whole world in his hands.

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